A short and concise sentence.
A tremendous pressure that made even the air feel cold.
Enough to make even the ever-expressionless Clea nervous.
“By the way, may I ask your affiliation?” “The Imperial National Tax Service.”
The Imperial National Tax Service.
The envoys of the Imperial Palace that make even the high-ranking nobles, who fear nothing, tremble.
The absolutes, who only ever punished the high and mighty, had come all the way to this borderlands.
To deliver retribution to the insolent Prison Warden.
Clea broke into a cold sweat at the power of a prisoner who could summon them at will.
“This way, please.”
Still, the adjutant calmly guided him.
As she moved calmly, she thought of only one person.
Just what was he thinking, provoking the Great Elder and inviting such a great calamity.
“I hear that Derek Minster is a terrible drunkard.” “That is merely a rumor.”
“We’ll see about that when we check for ourselves.
Once the warden’s office door is open, open the liquor storage first.” “…I understand.”
Clea remained silent the entire way up to the warden’s office.
Because even if he was acting, it was a fact that the Warden had been drinking heavily until now.
Surely, liquor bottles would be rolling around in that musty space.
“Warden, it’s the adjutant.”
No answer came from inside.
At that, the Head of the National Tax Service stepped forward himself and threw the door open.
Bang!!
The man who had burst in quickly took in the warden’s office.
However, he soon ended up scowling fiercely.
“Is that the adjutant?
I didn’t hear you as I was tending to the phonograph.”
The office where the previous prison wardens used to chug from bottles…
Was now as neat and tidy as an Imperial Chancellor’s office.
“Are you the one in charge here?” “Yes.
I am the Prison Warden of Berihill, Derek Minster.”
A clean black uniform and silver hair elegantly swept back with pomade.
I put on the same refined smile Derek had on the character selection screen.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
The grim-faced man ignored my handshake and strode past me.
Towards the liquor storage, the weak point of a drunkard.
At that sight, Clea also broke into a cold sweat for the first time.
Because until yesterday, that place was piled high with liquor bottles the Warden had drunk and thrown aside.
“Wait a moment.
That place is…!!” “If you mean the liquor storage, it’s the first door.”
Leaving the flustered Clea behind, I opened the door myself.
The moment I went one step further and confidently lit a lamp.
“Now, please check as much as you like.”
At the sight of the revealed storage, the head of the audit team’s jaw dropped.
Clea also peeked her head out like a fox.
Even she, who knew everything about this place, soon had her eyes wide open.
「Military Supply Whiskey」 「Military Supply Cognac」 「Military Supply Wine」 「Military Supply Rum」
Because golden liquors were beautifully arranged on the shelves.
On the glass bottles, ‘Military Supply’ ropes, signifying they were The Empire’s supplies, were intricately tied.
“What in the world is this…?”
The Head of the National Tax Service scowled and unsealed a bottle.
And, recalling the scent of the military supply liquor he remembered so clearly, he took a sniff.
“The aroma is nice, isn’t it?
As it’s liquor bestowed by the Imperial Court, I’ve kept it treasured like gold and jade.”
The middle-aged man’s eye twitched.
He snorted at the all-too-similar smell of the liquor.
Like a hunting dog flustered from biting the wrong target.
“Shall I pour you a glass-?
Ah, I suppose you can’t, being in the middle of sacred official duties-.”
My greasy eyebrows wriggled like an earthworm.
Perhaps finding the sight unpleasant, the Head of the National Tax Service sniffed more irritably.
“My sense of smell can’t be wrong…
Hey, you all come and check.” “Yes, sir!!”
Sniff all you want for a hundred days, I’ve tasted hundreds of types of liquor back when I was Chancellor.
I know all the types and aromas of liquor supplied to officers.
To the point where I can mix them myself to replicate a similar aroma.
“What happened?
I’m sure it was full of only empty bottles inside…”
Clea sidled up and whispered.
In response, I gestured towards the window with my eyes and answered.
“Relabeling.”
In the distance, signs of something being buried could be seen in an empty lot.
The adjutant realized that the liquor bottles she had bought yesterday were buried there.
“So you mixed commercial liquor to forge something similar to the military one…!”
Contrary to my neat attire, I smiled with bloodshot eyes.
The adjutant realized the meaning behind it and, for the first time, showed an apologetic expression.
“If that was the case, you should have told me beforehand.”
Clea covered her lips with the back of her hand, avoiding my gaze.
As if regretting how coldly she had treated me yesterday.
“I would have stayed and helped…” “You don’t know the taste of liquor anyway.
You wouldn’t have been much help even if you were here.”
As I comforted her like a scoundrel, she poked my side with her finger.
This hurt more than the raid from the National Tax Service.
“100 bottles of whiskey, 50 bottles of cognac supplied to Berihill.
All are accounted for.” “Understood.
All team members, come out now…”
Soon, the envoys of the Imperial Palace came out of the storage.
The team leader, unable to find any flaws, struggled to control his expression.
“Lastly, I’ll take a look at the ledger.”
His tone of voice had become considerably softer than when I first saw him.
However, I still couldn’t let my guard down.
Although I had taken the time at dawn to forge them, the opponent was the top killer in this field.
“You can look at the one on that desk.”
I was about to show them the location of the ledger myself.
But this time, Clea stepped forward before me.
Her blue hair, tied to one side, danced elegantly.
She glanced back at me, giving a look that said she would take it from here.
“From now on, I will be the one to assist you.”
New ledgers were dropped with a thud in front of the auditors.
These were the documents she had meticulously forged alone while the previous prison wardens were drinking.
“If you tell me which ledger you wish to see, I will prepare the rest.”
The audit team, starved for a weakness, rushed in like vultures.
However, Clea’s ledger, as if mocking its opponent, left no trace to be caught.
Thanks to that, they were left waiting blankly like dogs that had been chasing a fox.
‘Clea is definitely the best at this.’
I watched with satisfaction as my adjutant put up an ironclad defense with the meticulously forged ledgers.
Afterwards, when all the knights belonging to the National Tax Service were completely exhausted.
I walked out into the hallway alone with a cunning smile like a snake.
The Great Elder, who must be thinking I’m getting completely torn apart right about now.
Now that I’ve succeeded in my defense, it’s my turn to counterattack.